Impact of pollution on asthma examined in new report and Melbourne case study

A new report examining the relationship between exposure to air
pollution and asthma has been released today by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The report Monitoring the impact of air pollution on asthma
in Australia explores the Australian research in this area and
presents a method for estimating the contribution of air pollution
to asthma hospitalisations. It then applies this method to a real
case-Melbourne in 2006.

The case study estimated that about 3% of the 6,200 asthma
hospitalisations in Melbourne in 2006 were related to exposure to
nitrogen dioxide, while about 4% of the 3,533 asthma
hospitalisations of 0 to 14 year olds were related to particles in
the air.

'Linking air pollution to health outcomes is fraught with
complexities,' said Dr Adrian Webster of the AIHW's Respiratory
Conditions and Primary Care Unit.

'For example, there are key gaps in what we know about how air
pollution affects asthma as well as weaknesses in available data
sources that make drawing conclusions difficult.'

'These limitations aside, this report attempts to focus the
research in this area on key issues and identifies a methodology
that could be used for monitoring the impact of air pollution on
asthma hospitalisations over time.'

The report has been produced as part of a broader asthma
monitoring program, with the main interest assessing the
contribution of air pollution to the burden of asthma in
Australia.

'While the method used for this case study requires refinement
based on further research in this field, this type of method is
crucial for estimating the health impacts of climate change and
extreme events such as bushfires and dust storms,' Dr Webster
said.